Filtering out Lees...

[Antonio Marotta]

All my racked mead ends up with a lot of Lees on the bottom of the bottles. I racked from 5g carboys to 1g bottles or even wine bottles. What do I do to get rid of the Lees without wasting so much mead??

 

[CKuhns]

Cold crashing helps - It settles and condenses the lee's. What yeast are you using? Some settle a lot better than others. I almost always use Cotes Des Blanc and it doesn't settle as well as some but better than others. Have used D47 and EC1118 with pretty good results.

The other thing I do (that some others tend to find a little disturbing) is i collect the lees in a growler or grolsch bottle and let that sit sealed in the fridge for a few days to a week then decant off the mead after the lees compress a bit more and bottle it. Don't pour it back in the bulk age carboy but do let it age. Haven't had any issues other than occasionally these carbonate a little and perhaps get a little sediment in the bottom of the bottle.

 

[Maylar]

You need to wait longer before racking. The first pic is nowhere close to being clear enough to bottle. You should literally be able to read through a glass jug of mead before bottling it.

My meads are slow to clear too. With ciders, I use pectic enzyme up front and rack to secondary after the ferment is done and within a couple weeks it's crystal clear and ready to bottle. With mead I haven't yet found a fining agent that I like. I'm gonna try bentonite in primary next time, but meanwhile I find that keeping the lees stirred and suspended for a couple weeks after primary is done then cold crashing for a few days helps it to finally settle. Then rack to secondary and simply wait. Yes, you lose some each time you rack which sucks if you're only doing a small batch.

 

[JimRausch]

Yes, you lose some each time you rack which sucks if you're only doing a small batch.

I solve this by starting a bit more than 1 Gallon in a bucket, and at the 1st racking , after I fill my 1G jug to the neck, I have about 1 pint leftover. I keep that in a sanitized mason jar in the fridge and use it to top off.
By the way Antonio: As Maylar says, you most probably need to give it more time and multiple rackings to get rid of the lees before it's time to bottle. With my fruit wines and meads, it is usually 3-4 months and 2-3 rackings before I bottle.

 

[Blacksmith1]

question Jim. For the aging, do you start counting at racking or bottling?

 

[JimRausch]

question Jim. For the aging, do you start counting at racking or bottling?

Well, actually I don't count. I don't bottle until it stays clear and no more lees. On the label at bottling time, I put the date started and the date bottled. But so far I haven't cracked open a bottle prior to about 9 months after bottling, and usually a year. I only get 4 bottles per 1G batch, so I don't want to waste them if they're not ready.

 

[Blacksmith1]

wow, I'm drinking a cider I started on 12-8-18. I'm so ashamed. And it's nowhere near good yet.
Just barely drinkable.

 

[JimRausch]

wow, I'm drinking a cider I started on 12-8-18. I'm so ashamed. And it's nowhere near good yet.
Just barely drinkable.

Oh, I crack open my ciders MUCH sooner than the 9 months for wines and meads. And my ciders and grafs are usually 5 gallon batches

 

[Blacksmith1]

I'm thinking it needs more time, acid and tannins. I had to pour some white cran strawberry into it to finish the small glass I poured. I added a bit of AJ to top it up and stuck the airlock back on incase it fires up again.

 

[madscientist451]

I'm thinking it needs more time, acid and tannins.

Last weekend I was drinking some 3+ year old cider that I originally didn't like. It turned out quite tasty.
If the cider doesn't suit you now, bottle it up, lay it back and forget about it for a year or more.

 

[Blacksmith1]

If I had anything done to drink I would. this is going to be first down my gullet. my other stuff going now might get to age longer.

 

[NeverDie]

View attachment 606280 View attachment 606279 What do I do to get rid of the Lees without wasting so much mead??

Has anyone here tried using laboratory grade filter paper? 2V paper looks like it would be quite effective: https://www.gelifesciences.com/en/u...ffective-yeast-and-co2-removal-for-beer-in-qc

Maybe not for large batches, but for small batches like those shown in the photos by the OP... maybe?

 

[Blacksmith1]

not sure what micron that filters to ( haven't gone to the link yet) but I know coffee filters clog VERY quickly when used for this. apparently the space in those is perfect for the lees to block

 

[NeverDie]

not sure what micron that filters to ( haven't gone to the link yet) but I know coffee filters clog VERY quickly when used for this. apparently the space in those is perfect for the lees to block

From what I'm reading, multi-stage filtration (using, say, two filters in series, where the first can pass larger particles than the second) is one way that the clogging issue is addressed. For instance, if you have reverse osmosis at home, almost certainly there are staged pre-filters that precede it for just this reason.

For mead I suspect it's costlier than what most home brewers would want to do (the "time is money" equation doesn't govern), although I'm reading that commercial beer makers use it quite a lot because it's fast and does a good job clarifying the beer.

If anyone reading this *is* using filtration, please do stand and be counted. I would be interested to know.

 

[SKBugs]

Mind you, there's nothing wrong with it being a bit cloudy.
Age should also clear a lot of it out. But seriously? Who's got time for patience?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Multiple racking of mead is simply part of the process, just like wine making. You rack from primary to secondary, then when the lees build up again, rack again. Each time you rack, when the remaining yeast settles out, the mead will be clearer & the amount of lees will be less and less; until your mead is crystal clear & there's only a hint of dust-like lees on the bottom of the vessel.
Regards, GF.

 

[Maylar]

From what I'm reading, multi-stage filtration (using, say, two filters in series, where the first can pass larger particles than the second) is one way that the clogging issue is addressed. For instance, if you have reverse osmosis at home, almost certainly there are staged pre-filters that precede it for just this reason.

For mead I suspect it's costlier than what most home brewers would want to do (the "time is money" equation doesn't govern), although I'm reading that commercial beer makers use it quite a lot because it's fast and does a good job clarifying the beer.

If anyone reading this *is* using filtration, please do stand and be counted. I would be interested to know.

I'm intending to buy a filtering setup soon, probably the Buon Vino Mini Jet. From all I've seen about filters the mead needs to be nearly clear to start with, and the filters just add a level of polish. You certainly cant't filter out lees. You can however filter protein haze like you get when back sweetening with honey.

There are fining agents like bentonite, sparkaloid, Super Kleer etc that can bring your mead to clarity much sooner than waiting and racking. I have a couple small batches of cyser that refuse to clear completely even with multiple finings, and that's what's driving me to spend 200 bucks to get the filter.

I'll let ya know how that goes.

 

[NeverDie]

After watching this youtube video, I see now how it is that the commercial guys avoid clogs during filtration: they literally force the beverage through a filter by using high pressure

 

[MaxTheSpy]

You need to wait longer before racking. The first pic is nowhere close to being clear enough to bottle. You should literally be able to read through a glass jug of mead before bottling it.

My meads are slow to clear too. With ciders, I use pectic enzyme up front and rack to secondary after the ferment is done and within a couple weeks it's crystal clear and ready to bottle. With mead I haven't yet found a fining agent that I like. I'm gonna try bentonite in primary next time, but meanwhile I find that keeping the lees stirred and suspended for a couple weeks after primary is done then cold crashing for a few days helps it to finally settle. Then rack to secondary and simply wait. Yes, you lose some each time you rack which sucks if you're only doing a small batch.

bentonite is really nice, It looks pretty gross when you first use it, It will give everything a grey tinge but after a week or so letting it sit, It will be amazingly clear, At least it has in my experience. I use it every time.

 

[Vezeaufoods]

You could use a conical fermenter for both primary and secondary. That way all the yeast drops to the bottom into a either a collection jar or you can just drain the yeast off the bottom.

 

[Maylar]

If anyone reading this *is* using filtration, please do stand and be counted. I would be interested to know.

Thought I'd follow up here after my first filtering attempt. I have 2 one gallon cysers that were started back in November and have been fined with pectic enzyme, bentonite, cold crashing, gelatin, and Super Kleer. Here we are mid February and they still had a bit of haze.

I bought this Buon Vino Mini Jet filter kit and 3 grades of filters. Seeing that the cysers are fairly clear I decided to use the #2 (1.8 micron) filter pads.

There were some losses due to purging the cleaning solution (water and citric acid) that comes out first, plus some leakage that drips into a catch bottle. That went back through the filter afterward.

Probably should have used the coarse filter (5 micron) first, it might have not leaked as much. In the end I lost quite a bit of cyser and might not use the filter again on small batches. But there is a marked difference in clarity.

You really need to have the mead clear first, filtering is just a final step.

 

[growlrr]

Did you save a sample of the unfiltered cyser to do a taste comparison? I've always been concerned about losing flavor and depth by filtering down to such a particle screen

 

[Maylar]

Did you save a sample of the unfiltered cyser to do a taste comparison? I've always been concerned about losing flavor and depth by filtering down to such a particle screen

I didn't. But I might do that with the 2nd jug. From what I've read people filter down to the #3 level (0.5 micron) and remove honey protein haze from back sweetening and most of the yeast and they say the mead tastes much cleaner.

These jugs have seen a lot of fining chemicals and even though they've been racked multiple times I'm more concerned with residual off flavors that might have been left behind. I'll be happy if those all get filtered out. At this point these cysers are expendable and I'm willing to sacrifice them for the sake of filtering practice.

Leakage was unacceptable with this run. I'm told that if the filters clog that happens. You can't put a dirty mead in and expect polished mead out. I'm going to filter the 2nd carboy with 5 micron first and see what the difference is. The keg in my pics holds 1.75 gallons, so if I can get that from 2 gallons
i'll be happy.